Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
' ' Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a 2009 American computer-animated family comedy film, produced by Sony Pictures Animation, distributed by Columbia Pictures, and released on September 18, 2009. The film is loosely based on the children's book of the same name by Judi and Ron Barrett. Plot: At a young age, Flint Lockwood has always wanted to invent something interesting; however, his inventions malfunctioned, such as the Remote Control Television, Hair Un-Balder, The Flying Car, Rat-bird hybrids, and his Spray-On Shoes that have permanently trapped his feet in a solid sealant. He grew up misunderstood by his father, Tim. His mother, Fran, always believed he could succeed, however she died 10 years before the story, leaving Flint with his father. Flint lives in Swallow Falls, a town located on an island under the “A” in Atlantic. Since the Baby Brent Sardine cannery closed down, the economy fell and left Swallow Falls with sardines as their one and only source of food. Flint, along with the assistance of his pet monkey, Steve, who speaks through a thought translator, invents a machine that uses microwave radiation to mutate water into food. The machine requires a lot of electricity to work, so Flint sneaks out of his father’s fishing tackle shop while he is watching Mayor Shelbourne and "Baby" Brent McHale unveiling a new tourist attraction, Sardine Land. Flint goes to the power plant and hooks up the machine. The machine absorbs millions of megawatts of electricity and ends up rocketing through town and shooting up into the stratosphere, destroying Sardine Land. While sulking at the docks over his failure, he meets Samantha Sparks, a weather intern for the Weather News Network in New York whose big break was foiled by Flint’s actions while reporting the events about Sardine Land. The two witness purple clouds floating over the town that rain cheeseburgers, much to everyone’s surprise and joy. Realizing his achievement, Flint invents a communication device to send orders to the machine which is resting in the stratosphere. He starts working for Mayor Shelbourne, and Sam broadcasts Swallow Falls (now renamed Chewandswallow) attracting tourists. Everyone is going well until Tim fails to show appreciation for his son, and worst of all, more and more people (including the Mayor) start greedily requesting food for Flint to rain. The more food that is ordered will require more clouds for the machine to collect and make the food. Flint notices that the food is beginning to rain in massive quantities, but the Mayor (now morbidly obese) sees it as a better outcome, and Flint is forced to agree. He orders spaghetti and meatballs for the grand re-opening ceremony. The next day citizens and worldly tourists crowd Chewandswallow and cheer on Flint who cuts the ribbon. Suddenly, a large destructive tornado formed of spaghetti threatens the town. Flint rushes to the lab to turn the machine off, but finds the Mayor ordering a Vegas-style all-you-can-eat buffet. Flint attempts to send a 'kill code' to stop the machine; however, the Mayor tries to kill Flint by throwing a giant radish at him, but instead destroying the communication device. A massive food storm threatens the world and Flint loses hope. However, his father encourages him to fix the mess and hands him his lab coat that he lost in the recent disaster. Flint gains confidence and places the kill code in a USB flash drive and invents the Flying Car 2, but is then met by the angry townspeople, who want to get back at him for dooming their world. Fortunately, Earl comes to the rescue, stating that the townspeople themselves are to blame since they have been pushing Flint into making so many orders in the first place. Realizing this, the townspeople agree and spare Flint, allowing him, Sam, her cameraman, Manny (Benjamin Bratt), and Brent to set out to save the world while they work together with the remaining tourists to escape Chewandswallow. Entering the stratosphere, they find that the machine is the sole core of a giant meatball and that it is aware of the heroes so it sends sentient food to attack them. In the chaos, Flint loses the kill code. Flint calls his father who instructs him to enter his lab and send the kill code to his cell phone. Flint, Sam, and Brent enter the meatball but Flint is forced to carry on to the machine solo since Brent must fight off sentient roast chicken and Sam faces an allergic reaction to peanut brittle. Meanwhile in Chewandswallow, the citizens and tourists escape on boats made of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches under Earl's orders, but not after the Mayor, not wanting to take responsibility about what's happening to the whole world, abandons the town by stealing one of the boats, right before Mt. Leftovers collapses and destroys the entire town. The avalanche covers Flint's Lab with Tim still trying to send Flint the kill code. However he survives and he successfully clicks send. Flint encounters the machine and jams the phone into the USB port. However, Tim had sent him the wrong document, but Flint destroys the machine by using his Spray-On Shoes formula into the food extraction hole. Sam and Brent escape the meatball before it explodes. They return to Chewandswallow (now covered in nothing but food). Flint returns safe and alive carried by his Ratbirds. Tim finally shows his appreciation for Flint and Flint and Sam celebrate as they kiss. The end credits show that everyone is now using the machine to change the world into a food paradise, while the Mayor (having eaten his peanut butter and jelly sandwich boat and failed to escape) is deflated back to his normal size and arrested for his greedy actions.